Fractal: Make Blooms Not War

 PC
Fractal: Make Blooms Not War Image
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  1. First Review
  2. Second Review
  3. Third Review
  4. Fourth Review

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User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 12 Ratings

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  • Summary: From the award-winning team that brought you Auditorium and Pulse : Volume One comes Fractal, an enthralling music puzzler experience. Push, Combo, and Chain your way through a pulsing technicolor dreamscape all the while expanding your consciousness at 130 BPM.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. PC Gamer UK
    Jan 29, 2012
    84
    The game is an aesthetic pleasure to lose yourself in. [Feb 2012, p.101]
    All this publication's reviews
  2. GameSpot
    Jan 4, 2012
    75
    A flashy presentation and satisfying chaining mechanics make Fractal an addictive puzzler.

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. FurthestFlung
    Apr 8, 2013
    8
    Of the casual puzzle games I've played on Steam, this is probably the one I keep coming back to for a 15-minute break most often. It's simpleOf the casual puzzle games I've played on Steam, this is probably the one I keep coming back to for a 15-minute break most often. It's simple in design, and can sometimes be difficult to really see the full effects of a given "push", or player action, several moves ahead, which is exactly what such a game needs to do in order to stay interesting as a strategic challenge.

    Unfortunately, puzzle mode aside, much of the challenge of the game comes from either having to make quick moves (in arcade) or make matches (called blooms) in incredibly low numbers of moves, and forces you to rely upon the unpredictable dumb luck of having the game just plop tiles down in convenient locations for making more easy matches.

    Especially since late-campaign or arcade mode almost entirely depend upon being able to make matches with special blocks you can't place yourself, this tends to sap most of the strategy out of the game, as you're largely just waiting for the game to give you the pieces you need to win, and it becomes quite frustrating when the game randomly decides not to give you any.

    As a puzzle game, it needs to rely more upon strategy and less upon luck to really shine. I'm supposed to feel clever for doing well, not lucky, and when I do badly, I'm supposed to learn what I did wrong so I can improve for next time. This just makes it feel like a slot machine you just keep cranking the handle until you get lucky.    … Expand
  2. ZnakeGaming
    Jan 25, 2012
    7
    This game is good if you want a puzzler to keep you half occupied whilst doing something else. So to start the main gameplay involved in thisThis game is good if you want a puzzler to keep you half occupied whilst doing something else. So to start the main gameplay involved in this puzzle is to push hexagons in order to group up 6 that are the same colour for them to explode. When they explode you get points and some more hexagons are generated. To add variation into the puzzle there are various types of different hexagons such as ones which then detonated, will destroy more hexagons in the area around it.

    The game itself has 3 playable modes which are campaign, arcade and puzzle. The campaign consists of 30 levels which every few levels introduces another type of hexagon. These levels are quite entertaining and dont really take up too much time. They also dont require too much thinking. This mode simply gives you a score you need to reach in a set number of moves/pushes.

    Arcade mode is a timed version of a randomly generated puzzle, for each 'time hexagon' you blow up you get more time. This mode also allows you to choose between 3 difficulty levels.

    The last mode is puzzle which is alot like campaign except it outlines a specific task for you to do. So instead of just getting the score required like the campaign mode does, this will ask you do do things like cause X chain reactions. This mode in my opinion is slightly harder than the campaign. Also this mode gives you a number of moves pushes in which to complete the puzzle. There is approximately 60 of these puzzles.

    A scoreboard from the menu allows you to track your progress by stating how much of the campaign/puzzles ect have been complete. So overall I feel that this is a great game if your looking for something simple to play that doesnt require much of your time nor attention. This game doesnt disapoint, the soundtrack, UI, aesthetic and gameplay is very good, but not something I could sit and play for hours. Its also not as immersive as cube or portal. Thanks for reading.    … Expand
  4. Mcintosh
    Apr 27, 2012
    7
    This game is not bad for the price. It is not the best puzzler/color matching game. But it will keep you interested long enough to make up forThis game is not bad for the price. It is not the best puzzler/color matching game. But it will keep you interested long enough to make up for it's price. I wish they would have done many more levels. I personally used it as a secondary activity while playing other games. So it's a great mini game in which you may get a sense of accomplishment without a lot of thinking, but again i wasn't expecting much.… Expand
  5. AWG
    Jul 21, 2013
    6
    JonesR nailed it pretty well in his review: "Fractal: Make Blooms Not War" is a cute, interesting-for-a-bit game but it never really make youJonesR nailed it pretty well in his review: "Fractal: Make Blooms Not War" is a cute, interesting-for-a-bit game but it never really make you say "WOW".… Expand
  6. JonesR
    Mar 7, 2012
    6
    A pleasant color matching game. It lacks a proper tutorial, but only takes about 5 minutes to get the hang of it. The puzzle mode is kind of aA pleasant color matching game. It lacks a proper tutorial, but only takes about 5 minutes to get the hang of it. The puzzle mode is kind of a pseudo-tutorial and I would suggest starting there if you want to slowly get the hang of things. The music melody is nice, but the drum samples are poor quality. Like the majority of these type of games, it is great at passing the time, but I haven't seen anything that made me say "WOW."… Expand
  7. LeonidasRex
    Apr 19, 2013
    5
    This is yet another hex-based puzzle game. The game mechanic is pleasant enough, though it includes a heavy random factor that prevents youThis is yet another hex-based puzzle game. The game mechanic is pleasant enough, though it includes a heavy random factor that prevents you from taking the game too seriously. There's also no tutorial or help feature, so you just have to infer and then remember exactly how the special pieces work.

    My particular gripe with Fractal is that the aesthetics are so poor. There's no story, no character, no reason to solve the puzzles. The art backdrops are a mishmash of half-finished sketches with no particular theme. And the music is almost unbearably bad. This is one of the rare times I wanted to turn off the music and just hear the sound effects, but the game doesn't permit that.

    This might be a good phone game, where gamers don't expect much in terms of art or sound. But as a PC game, it lacks any sense of polish or presentation.    … Expand

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